Google is slowly but surely improving Google+ and trying to bring
the social network to the masses. Yet some of Google+'s best features are
less than obvious for both avid Google Plussers and those who are still
wondering what
the point of it is. Here are some of the more interesting or at least
useful tips for getting the most out of Google+.

If you haven't noticed, Google is making a serious play to make sure everyone signs up for and …
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Sharing and Saving

1. Control who sees your posts

While this isn't an advanced feature, it's
arguably one of the best things about Google+: You can easily have a private
conversation with one or more people, share posts publicly or to certain
groups, and even share them with people who aren't on Google+ (no need for them
to sign up just to see your update, unlike Facebook). It's also a feature that
seems to be the most confusing to newbies. The short of it is:

To share a post privately, delete everything in
the To: box and add the name of one or more people. You can also enter an email
address.

To share a post with your circles (groups of
your connections on Google+) or everyone, enter the name(s) of the circles or Public.

To mention
a person in your post, regardless of your sharing settings—and also send them
a notification to get the person's attention—write their name with a + or @
sign in front of it in the "Share what's new" box.

ProTip #1: Click the right dropdown box at the top of your post after you've sent it and select "Disable reshares" for an extra (albeit, not foolproof) measure of privacy on any post.

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ProTip #2: You can create a circle with just one person (e.g., your significant other) for easy sharing of stuff without cluttering each other's inboxes. [h/t Kari Coad]

That's the gist of it, but you might want to check out our guide
to Google+ privacy for fine-tuning what you share and with whom.

Here's a handy quick reference with common things you should know about Google+, like how to…
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3. Use keyboard shortcuts

As with other Google products, Google+ is friendly to
keyboard ninjas. Type a question mark (?) to see a list of all available keyboard
shortcuts, which Google updated not too long ago.

4. See who's shared your posts

Data/analytics nerds might loves this: Google+ Ripples shows you how many public shares any particular post has gotten, how it's been reshared over time, and other statistics about your posts. To see the visualization and details, click on the drop-down box on the top right of any post and select "View Ripples."

5. Create a poll

Via Web Designer Depot, this is a pretty smart—and easy—way to do a poll in Google+: Ask people to vote with a +1. You write the options in the comments, then choose "Disable comments" from the post dropdown menu so your post is solely a poll. There's no way to disable voting for multiple options here, but it's still a nice way to get feedback and encourage interactivity.

6. Save posts to empty circles for future reference

Circles don't have to have anyone in them. Create one or more empty circles that you can share posts to for easy bookmarking. For example, you can create ones like "ProTips" or "Photos" for your favorite finds, "Drafts" for those Google+ posts that start to turn into more blog-length updates, or "Note" for simply sending yourself stuff.

Similarly, you can create an Evernote or Pocket circle with just the email address those services give you to send stuff for saving—so you can easily save Google+ posts to those services. [h/t Ryan Gibson]

7. Create an RSS feed from a Google+ page or profile

Google doesn't have an RSS feed built in, but there are several tools to create a RSS feed from a Google+ page or profile. Feed+ for Chrome and Google+ to RSS both create feeds only for public posts, however.

8. Share your circles with others

Part of networking and joining in a community is connecting people together. You can do that by sharing specific circles with others. Go to People in the left menu, Your Circles, and then click on the circle you want to share. Under the Actions menu, click "Share this circle." As Kari Coad notes, it's probably best to give a heads up to people in that circle you're sharing. (If you have a collection of celebrities or influencers in circles, though, or there's a public circle, like our Lifehacker one, probably not a big deal.)

Photos

Google+'s built-in photo editing tools, auto enhancement features, and easy sharing of sets of photos makes it a pretty inspiring place for everyone who loves photography.

9. Create a photo slideshow for your profile

Did you know that on your profile page, your avatar photo links to an entire photo album—not just your profile photo. With this album, you could showcase your creative work, a series of images, whatever you want everyone to see. Click on the left menu and select Profile. Then under the Photos menu, scroll down to Profile Photos, and in the dropdown menu, select "Add photos."

10. Use a GIF as your profile pic or cover photo

Better yet, you can even use an animated GIF as your profile photo and/or your cover photo. (Google+ is the only social network to let you use animated GIFs in your updates as well as your profile.)

11. Auto backup photos from Android or iPhone

Google+'s automatic backups of your mobile photos is by no means a secret feature, but it is one of the most useful and perhaps underutilized features. Google gives you unlimitedstorage for standard size photos (up to a tablet-friendly 2048px resolution) you upload, with full resolution photos counting towards your Google Drive's storage space (which comes with a default of 15GB). Turn on the auto upload feature in your Google+ mobile app, where you can set the photo size for the backups.

12. Search animated photos

I have to admit, I really dig Google+'s Auto Awesome photos and mobies creation. They're like unexpected presents in your inbox. If you want so see all of the animated photos Google made for you and people in your circles, head to https://plus.google.com/photos/search/... (or search for "motion" in the Photos tab). [h/t Amit Agarwal]

This even includes photos Google might have animated for you from your old photos you uploaded to Picasa Web Albums, now that "Google+ is the new home for your photos" (i.e., Google+ has all but replaced the old Picasa Web Albums). Just search for words like "motion," "mix," or "hdr."

Hangouts

Finally, let's talk Hangouts, Google+'s way of having you chill out (or talk seriously) online with your friends and complete strangers.

Google just brought back its much-beloved VOIP calling feature and added it to Hangouts, allowing…
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14. Use the Lower
Thirds tool to add more personal information on the Hangouts screen

Lower Thirds is part of Hangout Toolbox, and it puts a message at the bottom of your screen (like the title of your Hangout or your name or other branding) while you're in Hangouts. The free plugin also provides volume adjustments, comment tracking, and, very importantly, meme faces.

15. Schedule a Hangout on the Air

There's an easy way to add a Google+ hangout to a calendar event in Google+ by creating an event (in the left menu of Google+, then the "Plan a Hangout" button. You can invite people to this scheduled hangout, add details, and so on.

The best way to do this is to
create a Google Plus Event, without
adding a Google Hangout. Then, at
the time of the event, start a Hangout on the Air. Then edit the Google Plus
event and paste the YouTube link and the hangout link into the YouTube URL and
Link URL sections of the event, respectively. Here's a post with more info on this.

Bonus: Easter Eggs

Last but not least, how about some fun/stupid tricks? When using Hangouts to chat with others, try typing in "/pitchforks" or "/shydino". The first will make an angry mob run across the chat window, while the latter will bring up a shy dinosaur. You can add "/ponies" or try the Konami cheat code to change the chat window background into a picture. See this helpful Google+ shortcuts post at Hongkiat.com for more tricks.